Much better weather for the last leg of our trip. We were heading north and the wind was from the south west so it was at our backs the whole way. This was by far the most enjoyable leg of the trip with some nice long drag type hills rather than the wind swept plains of the previous 3 days. After our previous mishaps we decided we wouldn’t take a break until we got around 30 miles under our belt. Luck was on our side this time and we came across a quaint French town with an excellent cake shop and café. The café was owned by a missive guy who spoke English and had been a semi pro rugby player (his brother had actually been the French national team captain) playing for years with an English rugby union side. A few miles outside of Dieppe we stumbled upon the ‘Avenue Verte’ which is a converted railway line running from Dieppe to Paris, this made a nice break from riding on the road but finished before the seafront where we had the one and only really big climb up and into the harbour of Dieppe itself. We arrived at the harbour with a couple of hours to spare so decided to have a few drinks and a bite to eat at the ‘Cactus Bar’. As we were locking up there was a loud bang, which turned out to be Malcolm’s rear tyre exploding, just imagine if this had happened down one of the descents? Three of us set off up a long hill to the nearest Decathlon sports shop to purchase him a new tyre, and to take advantage of the super cheap inner tubes (two for 3 euros). The trip home on the ferry seemed to take a lot longer than the initial crossing and as we neared Newhaven the rain was coming down heavily. Malcolm and Ivan had ridden over to Newhaven with the intention of riding back to Hastings. Fortunately there was just enough space in mine and Duncan’s mpvs to squeeze them in.
Many thanks to Duncan, Chris, Paul, John, Dave, Malc, and Ivan for their great company on what proved to be a tough trip. I won’t be able to do any extended trips for the next couple of years so if there is to be a trip abroad next year someone else will have to do the organising.
S.C
Av speed 12.4 mph
Distance 52.2 miles
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